The US Federal Trade Commission is asking a federal judge to delay a trial challenging Amazon.com Inc.’s Prime subscription practices, citing resource constraints at the agency.
“There is an extremely severe resource shortfall in terms of money and personnel,” FTC lawyer Jonathan Cohen told US District Court Judge John Chun in Seattle Wednesday. “The resource constraints are severe and really unique to this moment.”
The FTC is asking Chun to delay the current Sept. 22 trial date, citing shortages in staff due to voluntary resignations designed to thin the federal workforce and current caps of $1 on charges on government credit cards.
The request highlights the strain agencies across the government are facing under the Trump administration’s focus on quickly reducing federal staff and budgets. President Donald Trump appointed Elon Musk to oversee the effort to reduce spending and the chief executive officer of Tesla Inc. and SpaceX has publicly targeted $1 trillion in cuts in the next year.
The FTC sued Amazon in 2023 alleging the e-commerce giant duped consumers into signing up for its Prime membership service and deliberately made it hard to cancel. The FTC said Amazon’s tactics violate a 2010 consumer protection law designed to protect online shoppers. At the hearing, Cohen said Amazon could face penalties of $1 billion or more.
Cohen was candid in describing the FTC’s resource issues, saying the agency may not be able to purchase the transcript from Wednesday’s hearing. The FTC has laid off some of its probationary workers and Cohen cited the limits placed on expenses as hampering agency staff.
John Hueston, a lawyer for Amazon, said any such constraints should not impact the case and urged Chun to keep the September date.
Chun did not delay the trial at Wednesday’s hearing and instead asked the FTC to submit its request in writing with Amazon given a chance to respond.
When Chun asked what would change if the trial would be delayed by a few months, Cohen said it would reduce the immediate strain on the lawyers.
“I can’t guarantee that things won’t be even worse,” Cohen said, “But we may have been through the brunt of it. We’ll see.”
By Josh Sisco
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